


Small Favors

by Iturbide



Series: Robin x Everyone Challenge [1]
Category: Fire Emblem: Kakusei | Fire Emblem: Awakening
Genre: Drabble, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-17
Updated: 2017-06-17
Packaged: 2018-11-15 02:25:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,249
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11221329
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Iturbide/pseuds/Iturbide
Summary: It's easy to get along when you're working toward the same dream...even if you don't know it yet.





	Small Favors

**Author's Note:**

  * For [gunhorse](https://archiveofourown.org/users/gunhorse/gifts).



> I casually mentioned to my friend recently that I can see Robin paired with pretty much every available in-game character, so she dared me to write a Vaike x Robin drabble. 
> 
> _I DO NOT BACK DOWN FROM A CHALLENGE._

They made a strange sight on the battlefield, the broad stocky fighter and the soft little tactician alongside him. Enemy fighters assumed that he was the tome-wielder's guard -- and while they were not precisely wrong about that, the Shepherds also knew that she was the axe-man's leash, and woe betide the force that tried to rip them apart.

They had been an odd pair from the outset, really. The brash, thoughtless fighter who moved on instinct alone; teamed by chance or luck with the taciturn, thoughtful mage who planned their every move. On more than one occasion, Robin had taken too long in contemplation, and Vaike had simply picked her up under his arm and headed off into the fray.

(On more than one occasion, it earned him a swift kick in the ass.)

But for all the bickering that characterized their partnership on the field, she came to realize that the fighter was a truly dependable man: she needed only to turn him in the right direction and his sharp instincts would see to the rest. And Vaike, in turn, learned rapidly that the tactician's guidance was a surefire path toward survival, and often enough victory: in short order, he stopped questioning Robin’s orders entirely and simply trusted her to see them through.

It began with trust. The assurance that she would see them through the fight, and the belief that he would do his part in carving the path. And from that trust came camaraderie, slow and nearly imperceptible. In his way, Vaike reached out to her, asking for more help and guidance in matters far from the field: how to become stronger, how to become a better fighter, how to beat Chrom in sparring matches. And she, willing if long-suffering, agreed to help if it would mean she could get back to her work.

They trained together. She was a better hand with a tome than a sword (which Vaike often laughed about), but she knew the basics well enough to teach the fighter several tricks to turn a disadvantage in his favor. And he, in turn, encouraged her to keep on working with the blade. "Books ain't the answer to everything," he warned her.

While good sense told her he was right, the tactician still preferred the feel of a tome in her hands to the heft of metal.

But train they did. And camaraderie gradually became friendship. He told her one evening, in the alehouse the Shepherds were carousing in, about his dreams, and what he needed such strength for: to help lift the people of his village up from the poorest of slums to something better. And she, very quietly, confessed that she had no such grand aspirations. Robin did not know what she wanted, beyond a quiet life. Chaos and hardship were the dreams of spiteful madmen: the day she could set aside her maps and plans and simply BE would be a dream come true.

"But," the tactician admitted with a smile over her spiced cider, "I can still make sure you get where you want to go. That's what a tactician's for, after all."

For Vaike, at least, friendship became love in that instant.

Sully quickly tired of the fighter harassing her for advice on courting women. "It ain't like there's one surefire way of getting a girl to like you," she finally snapped. "You've gotta figure out what SHE likes if you're gonna get her attention."

Vaike rattled off a lengthy list of things he knew Robin liked: books, raven feather quills, nighttime, stars, the moon, venison stew, crowberry pie, cider, quiet...

It didn't take long for the cavalier to figure out just who the fighter had his eye set on.

"You're gonna have to come right out with it," Sully warned. "Gotta be direct with her. Make it so there's no mistake what you're doin', because she won't get it otherwise. For somebody so fuckin' smart, she can be thick as mud sometimes -- you'll make a great pair."

Vaike was never a man who shied away from hard work. When he set his mind to something, he saw it through: the fighter threw himself more aggressively into his training, challenging Chrom almost daily...and losing each time.

"Why are you so dead-set on beating the captain all of a sudden?" the tactician sighed as she hauled Vaike off to the infirmary.

"I've got somethin' I gotta prove," he mumbled in reply.

"You know there's time," Robin pointed out. "We're in the middle of a war. You'd be best served by taking care of the threats outside your hometown before working from within."

"I know that," he snorted. "That ain't what I'm tryin' to prove."

That piqued her interest. But try as she might, Vaike would say nothing more on the subject.

The next day, as he prepared for his next challenge, the tactician met him outside the sparring grounds. "What if I help you?" she asked. "That's what a tactician does, after all. Isn't it?"

The fighter thought about that, long and hard, as the prince warmed up in the ring. "I...I guess so," the fighter admitted.

Chrom still wasn't entirely sure what happened in that match. Vaike had always been a challenging foe, but that day he seemed a man possessed; while the prince certainly heard the calls from the sidelines, the fighter's quick parries, strong blocks, and fierce lunges kept taking him off guard. This was not the same axe-wielder he had fought in weeks prior. 

This was a hero, testing his mettle and proving his worth.

The prince lost that day.

And as Robin cheered from the sidelines, Vaike grinned and strode over to her, picking her up from her perch on the fence and setting her on her feet before going down on one knee.

"Seems like I can't do much of anything without you," he laughed. "I mean, I know I got brawn, but that ain't good for everythin', ya know? I dunno if I could do half'a what I want in life if it was just me. But you're helpin' me make all my dreams come true -- you've been helpin' me get better, an' stronger, so I can help the folks back home, an' you even helped me take down the best fighter in camp. If I have you with me, I know I can do anything...so I was hopin’ you’d make another dream of mine come true. See...see, beatin’ Chrom was how I knew I’d be strong enough t’make your dream come true: to sure this war ends, so you can put down all your maps an' just be you. So...I-I guess what I'm tryin' ta say is...I love you. An' I wanna be with you for the rest of ever. If you'd want me."

The ring he produced was simple, really, but beautiful in its way. And the tactician, stunned, realized she had a word for what she'd felt warming her heart so often when Vaike was near.

She said yes. 

And Chrom owed Sully five gold.

Robin’s shouted orders rang across the fray as the Shepherds traded blows with the enemy, underscored by Vaike's roars as he cut the path toward the commander. And as the general fell to Chrom's sword and Sully's lance, the fighter lifted his tiny wife onto his shoulder and raised a fist in triumph.

And of all the victorious cries on the field, theirs were by far the loudest.


End file.
